1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a container holder, and more specifically to an adjustable container holder for receiving containers of varying sizes.
2. Description of Related Art
Container holders in an automobile are commonplace in contemporary vehicles. The container holders are used to store a beverage container so that the vehicle operator can operate the vehicle without concern over the spilling of the container. Consequently, a number of devices have been developed for retaining and supporting beverage containers used in automobiles.
Several prior patents disclose trays which may be slidably mounted below an automobile dashboard for movement between a retracted storage position below the dashboard and an extended position of use above or close to the leading edge of the front passenger seat. Such trays may be provided with fixed circular apertures for receiving beverage containers. Examples of these devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,825,611, issued Mar. 4, 1958, U.S. Pat. No. 3,606,112, issued Sept. 20, 1971, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,899,982, issued Aug. 19, 1975.
Other references disclose trays which may be swingably mounted below an automobile dashboard for movement between a storage position below the dashboard and position of use extending from the dashboard toward the seat. These trays also may be provided with fixed circular apertures for receiving beverage containers. Examples of the latter devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,772,934, issued Dec. 4, 1956, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,190,241, issued Jun. 22, 1965.
These prior art devices which provide specific means for supporting and retaining beverage containers disclose trays having complete and fixed circular apertures arranged in a side-by-side or front-to-back relation. This necessarily requires that the width or depth, respectively, of the tray be greater than the diameter of two beverage containers to allow enough area to enclose a pair of fixed, complete circular apertures. Such devices obviously occupy considerable space below the vehicle dashboard.
More recent container holders disclose a drawer or tray slidably mounted within the dashboard or console of the vehicle. The drawer or tray has semicircular openings forming a portion of a cup receiving area and arcuate arms completing the cup receiving area. Many of these container holders disclose arms which are biased inwardly toward the drawer and which can be moved outwardly from an initial minimum position to an enlarged position to receive a cup of larger diameter than the cup receiving area. Examples of these cup holders are U.S. Pat. No. 5,259,580, issued Nov. 9, 1993 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,771, issued Sep. 4, 1990.
Similarly, other cup holders have a cup receiving area formed by a body portion having semicircular openings and an arm which is biased to a closed or retracted position. These cup holders are expandable from a minimum size to a larger size by forcing the cup into the cup receiving area and moving the arm opposite the direction that it is biased. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,716, issued Jul. 21, 1992, U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,184, issued Apr. 14, 1992, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,190,259, issued Mar. 2, 1993. However, these cup holders are difficult and unsafe to use because they often require the use of both hands when the cup is larger than the minimum cup holder size. One hand is used to expand the cup holder and the other hand is used to place the cup in the expanded cup holder.
The invention improves the art of adjustable cup holders by providing a container holder having variable size container holders that can be easily adjusted with one hand between multiple discrete positions and remain fixed in the desired position. Thus, the vehicle operator only needs one hand to operate the container holder.